Semiconductor integrated circuit with voltage generation circuit, liquid crystal display controller and mobile electric equipment

ABSTRACT

There is to be provided a liquid crystal drive controller with a built-in power supply circuit wherein latch-up is made difficult to arise even if one amplitude level of the segment line drive voltage is set to the ground potential and the levels of other liquid crystal drive voltages are determined accordingly. A semiconductor integrated circuit with a built-in power supply circuit, wherein a negative voltage generated in a power supply circuit is applied to a substrate or a well region as a bias voltage, is provided with a switch for temporarily applying the ground potential to the substrate or well region to be biased with the negative voltage at the time of starting up the power supply circuit.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a latch-up preventive technique for usein a semiconductor integrated circuit with a built-in booster type powersupply circuit for generating a voltage resulting from boosting of thesource voltage, such as an LSI (large scale semiconductor integratedcircuit) for liquid crystal display control with a built-in power supplycircuit for liquid crystal display driver, and a technique that can beeffectively applied to mobile electric equipment mounted with such anLSI.

Nowadays, as a displaying unit for mobile electric equipment includingmobile telephones and pagers, a dot matrix type liquid crystal panel inwhich a plurality of display pixels are two-dimensionally arrayed in amatrix form for instance is usually employed, and the equipment ismounted with a display control unit, integrated into a semiconductorcircuit, for controlling the displaying on this liquid crystal panel ofa driver circuit for driving the liquid crystal panel, or a displaycontrol unit with such a driver circuit built into it. While such adisplay control unit integrated into a semiconductor circuit canoperated on a voltage of only 5 V or below, displaying on a liquidcrystal panel requires a drive voltage of 5 to 40 V. For this reason,the display control unit often has a built-in power supply circuit forliquid crystal display driver for generating a voltage resulting fromboosting of the source voltage to drive the liquid crystal panel. Morespecifically, as shown in FIG. 14, the liquid crystal panel is drivenwith a segment line drive voltage SEG having an amplitude of about 6 Vand a common line drive voltage COM whose amplitude is a few times asgreat as that (about 40 V).

Power generating systems for a power supply circuit for liquid crystaldisplay driver conceivably include one in which the lower amplitudelevel VCOML of the common line drive voltage COM is set to the groundpotential ground potential (0 V), other levels VCOMH, VSEGH and VSEGLare determined with reference to that and the required voltage isgenerated by a booster type power supply circuit as shown in FIG. 14A,and another in which the higher amplitude level VCOMH of the common linedrive voltage COM is set to the source voltage Vcc (e.g. 5 V), otherlevels VCOMH, VSEGH and VSEGL are determined with reference to that andthe required voltage is generated by a booster type power supply circuitas shown in FIG. 14B.

As the power supply circuit for liquid crystal display driver, areference voltage circuit or a voltage follower circuit using anoperational amplifier is used, and such an operational amplifieroperates on the boosted voltage as its source voltage. This, however,involves the problem of considerably high power consumption by theoperational amplifier working on the boosted voltage as its sourcevoltage, because the voltage generated by a power supply circuit of thepower generation system described is at a considerably high absolutelevel relative to the ground.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present inventors, in order to reduce power consumption by the powersupply circuit, studied the possibility of setting the lower amplitudelevel VSEGL of the segment line drive voltage SEG to the groundpotential (0 V), determining other levels VCOMH, VCOML and VSEGH withreference to that, and generating the voltage to be used by boosting anexternal source voltage as shown in FIG. 14C. However, a systemillustrated in FIG. 14C was found to involve the problem that, where aCMOS circuit is used, it would be susceptible to a latch-up phenomenon.

This problem arises in the following way. Since the lower amplitudelevel VCOML of the common line drive voltage COM is −15 V or somewherearound that in the system illustrated in FIG. 14C, reverse biasing ofthe PN junction between the semiconductor substrate and the activeregion of elements on its surface requires biasing of the semiconductorsubstrate of the semiconductor chip on which this power supply circuitis to be mounted or the semiconductor region (well region) in which thecommon line (COM) driver circuit to a negative voltage, such as −15 V.However, in a semiconductor integrated circuit whose substrate is biasedto a negative voltage, such as 15 V, no sufficient negative voltage isgenerated by the boost circuit immediately after the power supply isapplied, the potential of the semiconductor substrate to which thevoltage generated by the power supply circuit is applied becomesunstable, and this leads to susceptibility to latch-up.

This latch-up phenomenon will be explained in detail below withreference to FIG. 15. In FIG. 15, reference numeral 100 denotes asemiconductor substrate of, for instance, P-type single crystal silicon;111 a and 111 b denote N-type well regions formed over the main face ofthis substrate; and 112, a P-type well region formed over the N-typewell region 111 a. Over the surface of the N-type well region 111 a isformed a P-channel MOSFET constituting CMOS logic circuits (logicportion) other than driver circuits, and over the surface of the P-typewell region 112 is similarly formed an N-channel MOSFET constitutingCMOS logic circuits. Over the surface of the N-type well region 111 b isformed a P-channel MOSFET constituting a driver circuit (driverportion), and over the surface of the P-type substrate 100 is formed anN-channel MOSFET constituting a driver circuit. The P-channel MOSFET andthe N-channel MOSFET constituting the driver circuits are elementsstrengthened in voltage withstand by thickening the gate insulatinglayer or separating the gate and the source/drain from each other.

In the above-described structure, a source potential VDD is applied tothe N-type well region 111 a via an N-type region 113 a for wellfeeding, and a negative voltage VCOML of −15 V or around that level,generated by a power supply circuit (not shown), is applied to theP-type substrate 100 via a P-type region 114 b for power feeding.

Incidentally, in the structure described above, there is a parasitic PNPtransistor Qs1 between a P-type source region 114 a of the P-channelMOSFET and an N-well region 111 a in the logic portion on the one handand the P-type substrate 100 on the other. There also is a parasitic NPNtransistor Qs2 between an N-type source region 113 b of the N-channelMOSFET and the P-type region 114 b for power feeding in the driverportion on the one hand and the P-type substrate 100 on the other.Further, both the collector and the base of the parasitic transistorsQs1 and Qs2, respectively, are the P-type substrate 100, with Qs1 andQs2 having a parasitic thyristor structure connected in the illustratedway. For this reason, if an unstable voltage is applied as in a periodT1 in FIG. 3A from the power supply circuit to the P-type region 114 bfor power feeding immediately after the power supply is applied, thesubstrate potential of the substrate 100 will vary, resulting in a flowof a current to the parasitic transistor Qs2, and it has been found thatthis may trigger a latch-up phenomenon in which the parasitic thyristorsare turned on to allow the current to continue to flow.

To add, in a semiconductor integrated circuit provided with a powersupply circuit of the system of FIG. 14B similarly generating a negativevoltage, as the positive voltage is not so high, latch-up can beprevented with relative ease by using a semiconductor substrate of adifferent conduction type (e.g. the N-type) from that of thesemiconductor integrated circuit having a power supply circuit of thesystem shown in FIG. 14A as the semiconductor substrate and applying abias voltage providing a reverse relationship to the semiconductorsubstrate.

On the other hand, in a semiconductor integrated circuit provided with apower supply circuit of the system shown in FIG. 14C, the aforementionedlatch-up phenomenon is averted by providing a special external terminalconnected to an output terminal and connecting to this external terminala diode which is turned on with a lower voltage than the parasiticthyristors are. Incidentally, techniques already in practice forpackaging a semiconductor integrated circuit in a liquid crystal displaysystem include the tape carrier package (TCP) method by which a chip ismounted on a printed wiring cable for connecting a liquid crystal panelto a control unit such as a CPU and the chip on glass (COG) method bywhich a semiconductor chip is mounted directly on a glass substrateconstituting a liquid crystal panel.

Of these packaging systems, the TCP method allows effective preventionof latch-up phenomena by connecting an external diode as stated above.However, where the COG packaging method is applied, the chip and thediode are connected via wiring consisting of high resistance (indium tinoxide (ITO) or the like, formed over the surface of the glass substrate,and accordingly the parasitic resistance of the wiring is high, it isdifficult for the external diode to be turned on. It has been that, forthis reason, the COG packaging method involves the problem of beingunable to effectively preventing the occurrence of latch-up phenomenaeven if an external diode is used as described above.

To add, where the aforementioned positive voltage system (FIG. 14A) isused, the semiconductor substrate can be biased with a ground potentialinstead of a negative voltage. This would result in application of astable ground potential to the substrate potential supply region 114 bshown in FIG. 15 from immediately after the beginning of power supplyapplication, with no fear of the parasitic transistor Qs2 being turnedon, so that the prevention of latch-up phenomena due to the parasiticthyristors accompanying the CMOS circuitry need not be so strict as in anegative voltage system. Other possible latch-up prevention measuresinclude, in addition to circuits according to the present invention, adouble well structure (PWELL is set to the negative voltage VCOML andthe P-type the substrate 100, to the ground potential GND), deepenedwell regions or some contrivance the device structure in theconfiguration of FIG. 15, and they can prevent latch-up to some extent,but they would involve a more complex process or require a sophisticatedprocess technique for accurately controlling the well depth, inviting anincreased cost of the semiconductor chip.

The present invention is intended to a liquid crystal drive controllerintegrated into a semiconductor circuit, having a built-in power supplycircuit and in particular permitting COG packaging, wherein latch-up ismade difficult to arise even if one amplitude level of the segment linedrive voltage is set to the ground potential and the levels of otherliquid crystal drive voltages are determined accordingly.

Another object of the invention is to provide a semiconductor integratedcircuit with a built-in power supply circuit excelling in strengthagainst latch-up phenomena.

The above-stated and other objects and novel features of the inventionwill become apparent from the description in this specification and theaccompanying drawings.

What follows is a brief summary of a typical aspect of the presentinvention disclosed in this application.

Thus, according to a first aspect of the invention under the presentapplication, there is provided a semiconductor integrated circuit havinga built-in power supply circuit (230) which, receiving an externalsource voltage, generates a positive voltage higher than the externalsource voltage and a negative voltage lower than a ground potential,further provided with a switch element (270) connected between firstwiring (291) for feeding the negative voltage as a bias voltage for asemiconductor substrate and second wiring (292) for supplying the groundpotential.

More specifically, in the semiconductor integrated circuit with thebuilt-in power supply circuit wherein the negative voltage (VCOML)generated by the power supply circuit (230) is applied to thesemiconductor substrate or the well region as the bias voltage, there isprovided the switch element (270) for temporarily applying the groundpotential to the semiconductor substrate or the well region, whichshould otherwise be biased with the negative voltage, at the time ofstarting up the power supply circuit.

The means described above, by making the switch element temporarilyconduct at the time of starting up the power supply circuit, can avoidthe application of the unstable output voltage of the power supplycircuit to the semiconductor substrate as the bias voltage at the timeof starting up the power supply circuit, and therefore it is possible toprevent latch-up which would be invited by a flow of current to theparasitic thyristors ensuing from the oscillation of the bias potentialof the semiconductor substrate at the time of starting up the powersupply circuit.

Preferably, the switch element may be so configured as to be madeconduct temporarily at the time of starting up the power supply circuitto set the potential of the semiconductor substrate, to which thenegative voltage should otherwise be applied, temporarily to the groundpotential. This makes it unnecessary, at the time of starting up thepower supply circuit, to enter from outside the signal to make theswitch element conduct temporarily.

Also preferably, there may be provided a control circuit for generatinga control signal for making the switch element temporarily conduct inaccordance with a control signal for starting up the power supplycircuit. As this control circuit, a reset circuit can be used. Thisenables the placing of the switch element to be readily synchronizedwith the startup of the power supply circuit and thereby the potentialof the semiconductor substrate to be stabilized or fixed at the optimaltiming.

Also, the switch element may preferably be composed of a high voltagewithstand MOSFET. This can contribute to enhancing the durability of thesemiconductor integrated circuit.

According to a second aspect of the invention under the presentapplication, there is provided a liquid crystal display control unitintegrated into a semiconductor circuit provided with a power supplycircuit for liquid crystal display driver which, receiving an externalsource voltage, generates a voltage to be applied to segment electrodesof a liquid crystal panel, a positive voltage, higher than the externalsource voltage, to be applied to common electrodes of the liquid crystalpanel and a negative voltage lower than a ground potential, furtherprovided with: a switch element connected between first wiring forfeeding the negative voltage as a bias voltage for a substrate andsecond wiring for supplying the ground potential.

The means described above, by making the switch element conducttemporarily at the time of starting up the power supply circuit, canavoid the application of the unstable output voltage of the power supplycircuit to the semiconductor substrate as the bias voltage at the timeof starting up the power supply circuit, and therefore it is possible toprevent latch-up which would be invited by a flow of current to theparasitic thyristors ensuing from the oscillation of the bias potentialof the semiconductor substrate at the time of starting up the powersupply circuit.

Preferably, the switch element may be so configured as to be made toconduct temporarily at the time of starting up the power supply circuitto set the potential of the semiconductor substrate, to which thenegative voltage should otherwise be applied, temporarily to the groundpotential. This makes it unnecessary, at the time of starting up thepower supply circuit, to enter from outside the signal to make theswitch element conduct temporarily.

Also preferably, there may be provided a control circuit for generatinga control signal for making the switch element conduct temporarily inaccordance with a control signal for starting up the power supplycircuit. As this control circuit, a reset circuit can be used. Thisenables the placing of the switch element to be readily synchronizedwith the startup of the power supply circuit and thereby the potentialof the semiconductor substrate to be stabilized or fixed at the optimaltiming.

Also, the switch element may preferably be composed of a high voltagewithstand MOSFET. This can contribute to enhancing the durability of thesemiconductor integrated circuit.

Further in the liquid crystal display control unit also provided with asegment drive circuit for supplying signals for driving segmentelectrodes of the liquid crystal panel on the basis of a voltagegenerated by the power supply circuit and a common drive circuit forsignals for driving common electrodes of the liquid crystal panel on thebasis of a voltage generated by the power supply circuit, elementsconstituting the common drive circuit may consist of MOSFETs higher involtage withstand than the elements constituting the power supplycircuit for liquid crystal display driver, and the switch element mayconsist of a voltage withstand MOSFET having the same structure as theelements constituting the common drive circuit. This would result in theformation of a switch element capable of stabilizing or fixing thepotential of the semiconductor substrate at the time of starting up thepower supply circuit without having to add any new process.

The liquid crystal display control unit may also be provided with afirst operating mode in which liquid crystal displaying is performed ina state of a source voltage being supplied from outside and a secondoperating mode in which liquid crystal displaying is not performed in astate of a source voltage being supplied from outside, wherein, whenshifting from the second operating mode to the first operating mode, theswitch element is made to conduct temporarily to temporarily apply theground potential to the substrate, to which the negative voltage shouldbe applied. Or alternatively, the liquid crystal display control unitmay also be provided with an oscillating circuit, a first operating modein which the oscillating circuit is operated to perform liquid crystaldisplaying in a state of a source voltage being supplied from outsideand a third operating mode in which the operation of the oscillatingcircuit is stopped not to perform liquid crystal displaying, wherein,when shifting from the third operating mode to the first operating mode,the switch element is made to conduct temporarily to set the potentialof the substrate, to which the negative voltage is to be applied,temporarily to the ground potential. This can prevent the occurrence oflatch-up not only at the time of starting up power supply but also whenthe internal operating mode varies.

An external terminal to which a signal for on/off control of the switchelement is inputted may also be provided. This would make possiblelatch-up prevention without having to provide inside the liquid crystaldisplay control unit a circuit for generating a signal for controllingthe switch element to stabilize or fix the potential of thesemiconductor substrate, facilitate designing of the circuitry of theliquid crystal display control unit, and serve to reduce the chip cost.

According to a third aspect of the invention under the presentapplication, there is provided mobile electric equipment provided withthe liquid crystal display control unit having the above-describedconfiguration, a liquid crystal panel to perform displaying in a dotmatrix system in accordance with a signal generated by the segment drivecircuit and a signal generated by the common electrode drive circuit;and a battery for providing the source voltage of the liquid crystaldisplay control unit. This makes it possible to realize mobile electricequipment with high display picture quality, consuming less power andcapable of operating on a battery for many hours.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of a liquidcrystal display unit consisting of a liquid crystal panel controllerdriver with a built-in power supply circuit of a booster type to whichthe invention can be effectively applied and a liquid crystal paneldriven by this LSI.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of reset circuit forlatch-up prevention in the liquid crystal panel controller driver towhich the invention is applied.

FIGS. 3(A) and 3(B) are waveform diagrams illustrating how the substratepotential varies with the presence or absence of a reset circuit 260 anda ground short-circuiting switch.

FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram illustrating a specific example of circuitryof the reset circuit.

FIG. 5 is a timing chart showing the operation timing of the resetcircuit.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example of power supplycircuit for liquid crystal display driver in liquid crystal panelcontroller driver to which the invention is applied.

FIG. 7 is a circuit diagram illustrating an example of second boostcircuit for generating a common voltage constituting a power supplycircuit for liquid crystal display driver.

FIG. 8 is a waveform diagram illustrating an example of waveform ofclock signals for operating the boost circuit in the example.

FIGS. 9(A) and 9(B) are diagrams for describing the actions of the boostcircuit in the example.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating an example of configuration of aliquid crystal display system consisting of a liquid crystal panelcontroller driver, which is another preferred embodiment of theinvention, and a liquid crystal panel driven by this LSI.

FIG. 11 is a timing chart showing the timings of control signals in thesecond embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating the overall configuration of amobile telephone provided with a liquid crystal panel controller driverto which the invention is applied.

FIG. 13 shows a plan of en example of packaging of a liquid crystalpanel controller driver to which the invention is applied.

FIGS. 14(A)-14(C) are waveform diagrams illustrating level differencesbetween a segment-applied voltage and a common-applied voltage VCOMdepending on differences in liquid crystal panel drive system.

FIG. 15 shows a section of a semiconductor substrate, representing anexample of device structure for the liquid crystal panel controllerdriver.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described belowwith reference to accompanying drawings.

First, as an example of a semiconductor integrated circuit having abuilt-in power supply circuit of booster type to which the invention canbe effectively applied, a semiconductor integrated circuit 200 forliquid crystal display control will be described with reference toFIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of aliquid crystal display unit consisting of the liquid crystal panelcontroller driver 200 with the built-in power supply circuit of boostertype to which the invention can be effectively applied and a liquidcrystal panel 300 driven by this driver.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 200 denotes the liquid crystal panelcontroller driver LSI, and 300, the liquid crystal panel driven by thisliquid crystal panel controller driver LSI 200. The liquid crystal panelcontroller driver LSI 200 is provided with, among other elements, asegment (SEG) driver 210 for driving the segment electrodes (segmentlines) of the liquid crystal panel 300; a common (COM) driver 220 fordriving the common electrodes (common lines) of the liquid crystal panel300, a power supply circuit for liquid crystal display driver 230 forgenerating drive voltages required by these drivers; a display RAM 240for storing by a bit map method video data to be displayed on the liquidcrystal panel 300; a controller 250 for controlling the whole chip ofthe chip in accordance with instructions from an external microprocessor(hereinafter sometimes abbreviated to MPU or CPU) or the like. Thesecircuits are configured on a single semiconductor chip such as singlecrystal silicon. The LSI 200 further has an external terminal to which asource voltage VDD is supplied and another external terminal to which aground potential is supplied.

Though not illustrated, this liquid crystal panel controller driver 200is further provided with an address counter for generating addresses forthe display RAM 240, a logic operating means for performing logicoperations for watermark displaying and superimposed displaying on thebasis of data read out of the display RAM 240 and new display datasupplied from an external MPU or elsewhere, and a timing generationcircuit for generating operation timing signals for the SEG driver 210and the COM driver 220.

Any appropriate control system can be used for the controller 250 asdesired, such as one in which, upon receipt of a command code from anexternal MPU, this command is decoded to generate a control signal, oranother in which a plurality of command codes and a register fordesignating a command to be executed (known as an index register) areprovided in the controller in advance and an MPU designates the commandto be executed by writing into the index register to generate a controlsignal.

Under control by the controller 250 configured as described above, theliquid crystal panel controller driver 200, when displaying on theliquid crystal panel 300 in accordance with an instruction and data fromthe external MPU, processes drawing to write display data successivelyinto the display RAM 240 and reading to read display data successivelyout of the display RAM 240, causing the drivers 210 and 220 to supplysignals to be applied to the segment electrodes and signals to beapplied to the common electrodes of the liquid crystal panel 300, andthereby carries out liquid crystal displaying.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of reset circuit as acontrol circuit for latch-up prevention in the liquid crystal panelcontroller driver to which the invention is applied. Reference numeral210 denotes the SEG driver; 220, the COM driver; and 230, the powersupply circuit for liquid crystal display driver. A negative commonvoltage VCOML, which may be −15 V for instance, generated by the powersupply circuit for liquid crystal display driver 230 is supplied to theCOM driver 210 and at the same time is applied to the semiconductorsubstrate 100 as the substrate bias voltage.

This embodiment is provided with a reset circuit 260 controlled with apower supply circuit startup signal ST supplied from the controller 250to actuate the power supply circuit for liquid crystal display driver230 at the time of applying power supply or when returning to a regularoperating state from a sleep mode or standby mode, and a groundshort-circuiting switch 270 for fixing the substrate potential (firstreference voltage) to the ground potential for a short period of time(e.g. 3 to 5 milliseconds) at the time of starting up the power supplycircuit with a signal RS from the reset circuit 260 until the operationof the power supply circuit is stabilized.

To the source (or drain) of this ground short-circuiting switch 270,which is configured of a MOSFET for instance, is connected ground wiring291, and to its drain (or source) is connected wiring 292 for supplyinga negative voltage (second reference voltage) VCOML from the powersupply circuit 230 to the P-type region 114 b for power feeding on thesubstrate surface as the substrate bias voltage. It is preferable forthe ground short-circuiting switch 270, as a negative high voltage VCOMLis applied to it while the power supply circuit 230 is being started up,to be configured of a high voltage withstand MOSFET. Further, it ispreferable to add some contrivance to the ground short-circuiting switch270 to reduce its ON-state resistance, such as making its gate widthgreater than elements constituting the logic circuit. As the devicestructure itself in FIG. 2 is the same as in FIG. 15, the descriptionconcerning FIG. 15 can be referred to for the description of thestructure here, which therefore is dispensed with.

FIG. 3 illustrates how the substrate potential varies with the presenceor absence of these reset circuit 260 and ground short-circuiting switch270. Where there is neither the reset circuit 260 nor the groundshort-circuiting switch 270, during the period T1 in FIG. 3A from thetime the power supply to the system is applied until the power supplycircuit 230 is started up, a current that would invite latch-up may flowas a consequence of a variation in substrate potential. By contrast, ifthere are the reset circuit 260 and the ground short-circuiting switch270, the ground short-circuiting switch 270 is on during the period(T1+T2) in FIG. 3B until a prescribed length of time T2 elapses from thetime the power supply to the system is applied and then the power supplycircuit 230 is started up, the substrate potential is fixed to theground potential GND. As a result, the current that might invitelatch-up is prevented from flowing to the substrate.

FIG. 4 illustrates a specific example of circuitry of the reset circuit260. In FIG. 4, the MOSFET sign marked with a circle in the gate partrepresents a P-channel type MOSFET, the MOSFET sign with no such markrepresents an N-channel type MOSFET.

The reset circuit 260 in this embodiment is provided with a NOR gate 261to one of whose input terminals is inputted a signal/ST resulting fromthe inversion of a startup signal ST for the power supply circuit and tothe other is inputted a clock signal φ1 (or φ2) to be supplied to thepower supply circuit; a capacitance 262 for boosting use connected tothe output terminal of the NOR gate 261; a MOSFET 263 to function as adiode connected to the other terminal of the capacitance 262; acapacitance 264 for storage use connected between the drain of theMOSFET 263 and the grounding point; a switch MOSFET 265 connectedbetween the other terminal of the capacitance 262 and the groundingpoint for boosting use and to whose gate is applied the startupsignal/ST; a switch MOSFET 266 connected in parallel with thecapacitance 264 for storage use and to whose gate is applied the startupsignal/ST; a first inverter 267 whose input terminal is connected to thecharging side terminal (node n1) of the capacitance 264 for storage use;a second inverter 268 for inverting the output of the inverter 267; anda third inverter 269 for inverting the output of the inverter 268, and acharge pump is composed of the capacitance 262 for boosting use, theMOSFET 263 and the capacitance 264 for storage use. Between the node n1and a source voltage terminal VDD and between a connecting node n0 ofthe MOSFETs 263 and 265 and another source voltage terminal VDD arerespectively connected MOSFETs QP1 and QP2 for pull-up use, eachsubjected to on/off control by the inverted signal/DS of the displaystart signal DS.

Out of the inverters 267 through 269 above, the third inverter 269 ofthe final stage is composed of a P-channel MOSFET Q1 and an N-channelMOSFET Q2 connected in series between the terminal of the source voltageVDD and that of the boosted voltage VCOML. The startup signal ST isapplied to the gate of P-MOS Q1, and the output signal of the inverter268 of the stage before to the gate of N-MOS Q2. The reason why thesource voltage on the low potential side of the inverter 269 is theboosted voltage VCOML is that the MOSFET constituting the groundshort-circuiting switch 270 is thereby turned off without fail in astate wherein the boosted voltage VCOML is applied to the substrate asthe bias voltage, i.e. it is thereby ensured that the low level of thecontrol signal for the short-circuiting switch 270 be VCOML.

Next will be described with reference to FIG. 5 the operation of thereset circuit 260 at the time applying power supply.

When the source voltage VDD is applied, P-MOS Q1 which constitutes theinverter 269 at the final stage of the reset circuit 260 is turned onbecause the startup signal ST is at a low level immediately after theapplication of power supply. Since displaying is not yet started, a highlevel display control signal/DS keeps the MOSFETs QP1 and QP2 forpull-up use off and, because the startup signal/ST is at a high level(VDD) immediately after the application of power supply, the switches265 and 266 are turned on to keep the potential Vn1 of the charging noden1 of the charge pump is 0 V, with the result that the output of theinverter 267 is at a high level (VDD) and that of the inverter 268, at alow level (GND). This causes N-MOS Q2 to be turned off. Consequently,the ground short-circuiting switch 270 is turned on. As a result, duringthe period T1 immediately after the application of power supply, inwhich the startup signal ST is at a low level, the ground potential isapplied to the substrate 100 via the switch 270 which is on, and thatlevel is fixed. This serves to prevent any latch-up from occurringduring the period T1.

Next, after the lapse of the period T1 following the application ofpower supply, the startup signal ST of the power supply circuit 230 isvaried to a high level (at timing t1 in FIG. 5). Then, the switches 265and 266 are turned off, and the NOR gate 261 is opened. Further, insynchronism with this, voltage boosting clocks φ1 and φ2 are supplied tothe power supply circuit 230 from an oscillating circuit (not shown)and, as the power supply circuit 230 begins a boosting action, thisvoltage boosting clock 1 (or φ2) is supplied to the reset circuit 260.Then this clock is supplied to the charge pump consisting of thecapacitances 262 and 264 and the diode MOSFET 263 via the open NOR gate261, the charge pump begins a boosting action, and the potential Vn1 ofthe charging node n1 rises gradually (period T2 in FIG. 5).

On the other h and, the variation of the startup signal ST to a highlevel then results in keeping, even if P-MOS Q1 of the final inverter269 is turned off, N-MOS Q2 off as well, a charge stored in an outputnode n2 maintains the ground short-circuiting switch 270 in an ON state.Incidentally, as the period T2 set as short as 3 to 5 ms, the charge ofthe output node n2 of the inverter 269 does not leak during the periodto turn off the ground short-circuiting switch 270. This keeps theground potential being continuously applied to the substrate 100 toprevent any latch-up from occurring during the period T2.

After the lapse of the period T2 following the variation of the startupsignal ST to the high level (at the timing t2 in FIG. 5), the potentialVn1 of the charging node n1 of the charge pump surpasses the logicalthreshold of the inverter 267. Then, the output of the inverter 267varies to a low level, and that of the inverter 268 to a high level toturn on N-MOS Q2 of the final inverter 269 and to vary the output resetsignal Rs to VCOML. This results in turning off the groundshort-circuiting switch 270, the boosted voltage VCOML of the powersupply circuit 230, which has begun to be supplied is applied to thesubstrate 100.

Incidentally, as N-MOS Q2 is turned on before this negative voltageVCOML is fully stabilized, the level of the reset signal RS continues tovary with the boosted voltage VCOML for some time even after the lapseof the period T2. However, because this variation is interlocked withthe variation of the bias voltage supplied to the substrate 100 via theground short-circuiting switch 270, the ground short-circuiting switch270 remains in an OFF state while the bias voltage continues to vary.After that, as the signal DS to instruct the start of liquid crystaldisplaying is raised to a high level and its inverted signal/DS isreduced to a low level, the MOSFETs QP1 and QP2 for pull-up use areturned on to hold the potentials of the nodes n0 and n1 at VDD duringthe display period, with the result that the reset signal RS remains ata low level (VCOML) even if the supply of the clock φ1 to the resetcircuit 260 is stopped. Stopping the clock results in stopping theoperation of the charge pump of the reset circuit, thereby savingwasteful power consumption.

Whereas the operation of the reset circuit at the time of power supplyapplication has been described so far, such an LSI as a liquid crystalcontroller driver for use in a mobile telephone of the like may have abuilt-in oscillating circuit for generating the voltage boosting clockφ1 and φ2 and operation clocks for the logic portion (controller), andthe very operation of the oscillating circuit would be stopped in aprescribed mode in which liquid crystal displaying and logic operationsare not needed (hereinafter referred to as the sleep mode), such as inthe waiting mode of a mobile telephone, or the operation of the powersupply circuit for liquid crystal display driver would be stopped butthe oscillating circuit kept in operation in another prescribed mode inwhich no liquid crystal displaying is needed but the logic portionshould operate (hereinafter referred to as the standby mode). Therefore,the configuration may as well be such that, when the power supplycircuit for liquid crystal display driver is to be started up to returnfrom the sleep mode or the standby mode to the regular operating mode,the reset circuit 260 can be operated to stabilize the potential of thesubstrate 100 to prevent any latch-up from occurring. To add, thestandby mode is used when, for instance, a mobile telephone performsperiodic communication with a base station while in a waiting period.

FIG. 6 illustrates a specific example of booster type power supplycircuit for use in this embodiment of the invention.

The power supply circuit for liquid crystal display driver shown in FIG.6 comprises a boost circuit 10 consisting of a charge pump and otherelements for boosting the source voltage VDD to generate a voltage VDD2slightly higher than the voltage VSEGH required for driving the segmentelectrodes of the liquid crystal panel; a reference voltage circuit 11operating with the voltage VDD2 boosted by the boost circuit 10 as itspower source to generate a reference voltage required for generating aliquid crystal drive voltage; a voltage dividing circuit 12A consistingof a ladder resistance for subjecting the generated reference voltage toresistance division to generate reference voltages of a plurality ofdesired levels; voltage followers 13A and 13B operating with the voltageVDD2 boosted by the boost circuit 10 as their power source andgenerating the voltages VSEGH and VSEGL required for driving the segmentelectrodes of the liquid crystal panel and the liquid crystal centralpotential VMID with reference to the voltages generated by the voltagedividing circuit 12A; a second voltage dividing circuit 12B consistingof a ladder resistance for subjecting the reference voltage generated bythe reference voltage circuit 11 to resistance division to generatereference voltages required for boosting on the common side; a voltagefollower 13C operating with the voltage VDD2 boosted by the boostcircuit 10 as its power source and generating a reference potential VCI2for the generation of the common applied voltage of the liquid crystalpanel with reference to the voltages generated by the voltage dividingcircuit 12B; and a second boost circuit 20 consisting of a charge pumpand other elements for generating the voltages VCOMH and VCOML requiredfor driving the common electrodes of the liquid crystal panel on thebasis of the output of the voltage follower 13C.

The reference voltage circuit 11 comprises a differential amplifier AMPto whose non-inverting input terminal is applied a reference voltageVref for driving liquid crystal display and a variable resistancedividing circuit 30 consisting of a variable resistance Rv and a fixedresistance Rc connected between the output terminal of the differentialamplifier and the grounding point. It is so configured that voltagesresulting from resistance division of the output Vout of the amplifierby the variable resistance dividing circuit 30 are fed back to theinverting input terminal of the differential amplifier AMP, and suppliesa voltage Vout, which is (Rv+Rc)/Rv times the reference voltage Vref.If, for instance Rv=Rc, the dividing circuit 30 can supply a voltageVout twice as high as VREF. Also, by appropriately setting the level ofthe variable resistance Rv, the output voltage Vout, i.e. the segmentvoltage VSEGH can be regulated. To add, it is preferable for thereference voltage Vref to be supplied from a reference voltagegenerating circuit that is less dependent on temperature and on sourcevoltage, such as a b and gap reference circuit for example.

In the power supply circuit for liquid crystal display driver embodyingthe invention in this mode, the source voltage of the amplifiersconstituting the reference voltage circuit 11 and voltage followers 13Athrough 13C is the voltage VDD2 boosted by the first boost circuit 10.Where the segment voltages VSEGL to VSEGH and the common voltages VCOMLto VCOMH are respectively 0 to 6 V and −14 to 20 V and the externalsource voltage VDD is 2.7 V, the suitable range of the boosted voltageVDD2 is 6 to 8 V, i.e. 2.2 VDD to 3 VDD, and therefore not only can thepower consumption of the amplifiers can be less than in those in thepositive boosted voltage system (see FIG. 14A) using the boosted voltageVLCD (about 40 V) as the source voltage but also the elementsconstituting the amplifiers need not be so high in voltage withstand,making it possible to reduce the area occupied by the circuits.

FIG. 7 illustrates a specific example of configuration of the secondboost circuit 20. As reference to FIG. 14C showing the waveform of thevoltage to be applied to the liquid crystal panel would reveal,generation of signals to be applied to the common electrodes requires anegative voltage VCOML a voltage whose polarity is reverse to that ofthe boosted voltage VCOMH, around the middle potential VMID of theliquid crystal.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, the second boost circuit 20 iscomposed of a charge pump 21 for generating a common voltage VCOMHhaving a positive polarity and a voltage inverting circuit 22 forinverting the output voltage of the charge pump to generate a commonvoltage VCOML having a negative polarity. Incidentally, as the firstboost circuit 10 can have the same configuration as the charge pump 21of the second boost circuit 20, its illustration and description will bedispensed with. Further, the charge pump 21 and the voltage invertingcircuit 22 in this embodiment are respectively provided with AND gatesG1, G2 and G3, G4, the clock supply to which is controlled with theactuating signal ST for the power supply circuit. The configuration issuch that, as long as the actuating signal ST is at a low level, thesupply of the clocks φ1 and φ2 be cut off to perform no boosting, andwhen the actuating signal ST is raised to a high level, the clocks φ1and φ2 be supplied to start boosting.

The charge pump 21 for generating the positive common voltage VCOMH isconfigured of switches SW1 through SW4 turned on and off by the clocksignal φ1, switches SW5 through SW7 turned on and off by the clocksignal φ2 formed not to allow its high level period to overlap that ofthe clock signal φ1 (see FIG. 8), boost capacitances C1 and C2 to beconnected in series by the switches SW5 and SW6 and a smooth capacitanceC3 for output, connected to an output terminal OUT1.

The low potential side terminal C1− of the boost capacitance C1 is madeconnectable to the grounding point or a first reference potentialterminal T1 via the switch SW4 or SW7, and the high potential sideterminal C1+ of the boost capacitance C1 is made connectable to a secondreference potential terminal T2 via the switch SW3. Also, the lowpotential side terminal C20 of the boost capacitance C2 is madeconnectable to the grounding point via the switch SW2, and the highpotential side terminal C2+ of the boost capacitance C2 is madeconnectable to the first reference potential terminal T1 via the switchSW1.

Further, the output terminal OUT1 and the high potential side terminalC2+ of the boost capacitance C2 are made connectable to each other viathe switch SW5, and the low potential side terminal C2− of the boostcapacitance C2 and the high potential side terminal C1+ of the boostcapacitance C1 are made connectable to each other via the switch SW6. Tothe first reference potential terminal T1 is applied the output voltageVCI2 from the voltage follower 13C. Incidentally, a capacitance C10connected to the first reference potential terminal T1 is intended forstabilizing the voltage supplied from the voltage follower 13C.

In the charge pump 20 configured as described, the boost capacitances C1and C2 are charged to the reference voltage VCI2 when the clock signalφ1 is raised to a high level and the switches SW1 through SW4 are kepton (SW5 through SW7 are off then) as shown in FIG. 9A. Then, as theswitches SW1 through SW4 are turned off, the switches SW5 through SW7are turned on instead and the boost capacitances C1 and C2 are connectedin series as shown in FIG. 9B, and the reference end side of the boostcapacitance C1, i.e. the low potential side terminal C1− is connected tothe first reference potential terminal T1 via the switch SW7. Thisresults in thrusting up the voltage of the output terminal OUT1 to3VCI2. By repeating the charging action and the boosting action, thecharge provided to the boost capacitance C2 is transferred to the smoothcapacitance C3 connected to the output terminal OUT1, and the boostedvoltage VCOMH of 3VCI2 is supplied.

The voltage inverting circuit 22 is composed of a voltage terminal Ta towhich the positive boosted voltage VCOMH generated by the charge pump 21is applied; a second reference voltage terminal Tb to which the middlepotential VMID of the liquid crystal generated by the voltage follower13B is applied; a voltage inverting capacitance C21; switches SW8 andSW10 respectively connected between one of the terminals of thecapacitance C21 and the voltage terminal Ta and between the terminal ofthe capacitance C21 and the voltage terminal Tb; switches SW9 and SW11respectively connected between the other terminal of the voltageinverting capacitance C21 and the voltage terminal Tb and between thatother terminal of the capacitance C21 and the output terminal Tc; and asmooth capacitance C22 for negative voltage connected between the outputterminal Tc and the grounding point. To add, the capacitance C20connected to the second reference potential terminal T2 is intended forstabilizing the voltage supplied from the voltage follower 13B.

The voltage inverting circuit in this embodiment turns the switches SW8and SW9 on and the switches SW10 and SW11 with clocks so formed as notto allow their respective high level periods to overlap each other (seeφ1 and φ2 in FIG. 8) to charge the voltage inverting capacitance C21with a voltage corresponding to the potential difference between thepositive boosted voltage VCOMH and the middle potential VMID of theliquid crystal. After that, it charges the smooth capacitance C22connected to the output terminal OUT2 with the negative voltage VCOMLwhose polarity is reverse to that of the boosted voltage VCOMH aroundthe middle potential VMID of the liquid crystal by turning the switchesSW8 and SW9 off and the switches SW10 and SW11 off.

As described above, the power supply circuit for liquid crystal displaydriver embodying the invention in this way also excels in currentefficiency over a like circuit using an amplifier, because the secondboost circuit 20 for generating the common voltages VCOML and VCOMH iscomposed of a charge pump. Thus, generation of the common voltages VCOMLand VCOMH with an amplifier requires an even higher voltage than thecommon voltages VCOML and VCOMH as the source voltage for the amplifierand accordingly is less efficient, but the direct driving of the commonelectrodes of the liquid crystal panel with a voltage boosted by acharge pump as in this embodiment serves to enhance the currentefficiency.

Incidentally, as a charge pump is smaller in current supply capacitythough excelling in current efficiency, its output level will drop ifthe load on the panel is great. However, as is evident from the waveformshown in FIG. 14C, the waveform for driving the common electrodes is lowin frequency and accordingly the average load is small. Therefore,generation of the common voltages VCOML and VCOMH with a charge pumpinvolves no problem whatsoever.

On the other hand, because the voltage waveform for driving the segmentelectrodes far more frequently varies than that for driving the commonelectrodes and accordingly imposes a greater average load, if thesegment drive voltage is generated with a charge pump, the output of thecharge pump may drop immediately after the start of displaying on thepanel. If the output of the charge pump does drop, the accuracy of theoutput voltage will deteriorate, inviting the risk of application of aD.C. voltage to the liquid crystal, which might then be deteriorated.There may be the further trouble of impossibility to obtain satisfactorypicture quality, such as discrepancy between display colors on a colorliquid crystal display panel. However, in the embodiment of theinvention described above, as the drive voltage for the segmentelectrodes subject to a heavy average load is generated by a voltagefollower, there is no fear of any voltage drop, and accordingly thedisplayed picture quality can be prevented from deterioration.

The capacitance elements C1 through C3, C10, C20, C21, C22 and so forthshown in FIG. 7 are connected as external capacitances to thesemiconductor chip on which the boost circuit shown in FIG. 7 ismounted. In this case, the external terminal for connecting the externalcapacitances and wiring for pulling out and connecting part of thewiring lines for supplying the boosted voltage VCOMH and negativevoltage VCOML to the external terminal are provided on the semiconductorchip.

Furthermore, as already described, this embodiment is provided againstlatch-up with the ground short-circuiting switch 270 on the way ofwiring for the feeding of the negative voltage VCOML generated by thevoltage inverting circuit 21 to the substrate as the substrate biasvoltage. In order to further increase the strength against latch-up ofthe LSI, even though it is already provided against latch-up, it ispreferable to pull out the wiring for supplying the negative voltageVCOML to an external terminal and to connect an external diode to theexternal terminal. In that case, the diode for latch-up prevention canbe connected to a common terminal with the external terminal to whichthe capacitance element C22 for stabilizing the generated negativevoltage VCOML is to be connected. FIG. 7 illustrates how such a diodefor latch-up prevention, identified as D1, is connected to the outputOUT2 of the voltage inverting circuit 22.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating another example of liquidcrystal display system consisting of a liquid crystal panel controllerdriver as a liquid crystal display control unit to which the presentinvention is applied and a liquid crystal panel driven by this driver.

In FIG. 10, reference numeral 200 denotes a liquid crystal panelcontroller driver, and 300, a liquid crystal panel driven by this liquidcrystal panel controller driver 200. The liquid crystal panel controllerdriver 200 is configured of a SEG driver 210 for driving segmentelectrodes of the liquid crystal panel 300; a COM driver 220 for drivingcommon electrodes of the liquid crystal panel 300; a power supplycircuit for liquid crystal display driver 230 for generating the drivevoltages required by these drivers; and a controller 250 for controllingthe whole inside of the chip. These circuits are formed over a singlesemiconductor chip, such as single crystal silicon. In this embodiment,too, a short-circuiting switch 270 is provided on the way of wiring tosupply the negative voltage VCOML generated by the power supply circuit230 to the substrate for fixing the wiring to the ground. Referencenumeral 353 denotes a microprocessor or microcomputer MPU forcontrolling this liquid crystal controller driver 200.

Though not illustrated, this liquid crystal panel controller driver 200is further provided with an address counter for generating addresses fora display RAM for storing display data, a logic operating means forperforming logic operations for watermark displaying and superimposeddisplaying on the basis of data read out of the display RAM and newdisplay data supplied from an external MPU or elsewhere, and a timinggeneration circuit for generating operation timing signals for the SEGdriver 210 and the COM driver 220. Though not illustrated either, as inFIG. 1, a display RAM for storing by a bit map method video data to bedisplayed on the liquid crystal panel 300 may also be built into thesame chip as that mounting the power supply circuit for liquid crystaldisplay driver.

In this embodiment, a display start signal DSC for the controller 250 ofthe liquid crystal controller driver 200, a boost start signal CST forthe power supply circuit for liquid crystal display driver, and acontrol signal RST for turning on and off the ground short-circuitingswitch 270 (reset signal) are generated by the MPU 353 for control useand supplied to the liquid crystal panel controller driver 200. To makethese actions possible, the liquid crystal controller driver 200 isprovided with external terminals 281, 282 and 283 for receiving thecontrol signals DSC, CST and RST mentioned above, which are suppliedfrom an external MPU or elsewhere. FIG. 11 shows the timings of thecontrol signals DSC, CST and RST supplied from the MPU 353 for controluse to the liquid crystal panel controller driver 200.

As is seen from FIG. 11, until a prescribed length of time T0 passesafter the control signal DSC starts up the operation of the power supplycircuit 230, the control signal RST is kept at a high level, and thetuning-on of the short-circuiting switch 270 fixes the substratepotential to the ground to prevent any latch-up from occurring. Sometime after the control signal RST is brought down to a low level and theshort-circuiting switch 270 is turned off, the control signal DSC isvaried to a high level start liquid crystal displaying.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating the overall configuration of amobile telephone as a typical application of the liquid crystal displayunit consisting of the liquid crystal panel controller driver 200 andthe liquid crystal panel 300 shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 10.

The mobile telephone embodying the invention in this way is providedwith the liquid crystal panel 300 as the display unit; an antenna 321for transmission/reception use; a loudspeaker 322 for audio output; amicrophone 323 for audio input; the liquid crystal panel controllerdriver 200 to which the invention is applied; an audio interface 330 forinputting and outputting signals to and from the loudspeaker 322 and themicrophone; a high frequency interface 340 for inputting and outputtingsignals to and from the antenna 321; a digital signal processor (DSP)351 for processing audio signals and transmit/receive signals;application specific integrated circuits (ASIC) 352 for providing customfunctions (user logic); a system control unit 353, consisting of amicroprocessor or a microcomputer, for performing controls over thewhole apparatus including display control; a memory 360 for storing dataand programs; and a battery 380 for supplying power to the mobiletelephone. A so-called base band unit 350 is configured of the DSP 351,ASIC 352 and MPU 353 as the system control unit.

The liquid crystal panel 300 may, though not limited to, consist of adot matrix type pane. in which a large number of display pixels arearrayed in a matrix. If the liquid crystal panel is for colordisplaying, each pixel consists of three dots including red, blue andgreen ones. The memory 360, consisting of a flash memory or the likepermitting collective erasion block by block, stores control programsand control data for the whole mobile telephone system including displaycontrol, and also has the functions of a character generator read onlymemory (CGROM), which is a pattern memory in which display dataincluding character fonts as two-dimensional display patterns arestored.

FIG. 13 shows a liquid crystal module in a state in which a liquidcrystal panel controller driver 200 to which the invention is applied ispackaged on a chip on glass (COG) basis into the liquid crystal panel300.

In FIG. 13, reference numeral 370 denotes a glass substrate constitutingthe liquid crystal panel 300; 380, an opposite substrate holding liquidcrystals between it and the glass substrate 370 to constitute a displayportion; and 371 and 372, draw-out wiring lines consisting of ITO andthe like, formed over the glass substrate 370 and their ends aregathered on one side of the substrate. By melt-deposition with solderballs or the like intervening between ends of these wiring lines 371 and372 and the matching electrode pads (external terminals) of the liquidcrystal controller driver 200, the liquid crystal controller driver 200is packaged over the liquid crystal panel.

Further, reference numeral 500 denotes a print circuit board over whichthe microprocessor (MPU) 353 for controlling the liquid crystalcontroller driver 200 and external elements 390 including capacitancesand diodes are packaged. On the print circuit board 500, themicroprocessor (MPU) 353, the external elements 390 and the liquidcrystal controller driver 200 on the liquid crystal panel 300 side areconnected by flexible printed circuit boards (FPC) 510 and 520 coupledto terminals provided at an end of the glass substrate 370 via heatseals or the like. In addition, the configuration provides for thesupply of the source voltage VDD and the ground potential GND to theliquid crystal panel 300 by another FPC 530 for power feed use,connected to a terminal at an end of the glass substrate 370. Theterminal at the end of the glass substrate 370 and the liquid crystalcontroller driver 200 are also connected by wiring 373 consisting of ITOor the like.

The invention by the present inventors has been specifically describedabove with reference to preferred embodiments thereof, but obviously thepresent invention is not limited to the foregoing embodiments, and canbe modified in various ways without deviating from the essentialsthereof. For instance, while the embodiments is provided with thevoltage inverting circuit 22 for generating the negative voltage VCOMLby inverting the positive voltage VCOMH generated by the charge pump 21,the invention can also be applied to a semiconductor integrated circuitmounted with a power supply circuit in which a charge pump having asimilar configuration to the charge pump 21 directly generates anegative voltage.

Further, although the liquid crystal controller driver 200 in theembodiments uses a P-type single crystal substrate, this may be replacedwith an N-type substrate. In that case, for instance, either a powersupply short-circuiting switch maybe provided between the N-typesubstrate to which a positive voltage, such as VCOMH, generated by thepower supply circuit and the VDD wiring or a ground short-circuitingswitch may be provided between the P-well region to which a negativevoltage, such as VCOML, generated by the power supply circuit and theground wiring to suppress the fluctuations of the well potential at thetime the power supply is started and up, and any latch-up can be therebyprevented.

Although the foregoing description of the invention mainly concerned aliquid crystal panel controller driver for driving the liquid crystalpanel of a mobile telephone, which was the background of the presentinventors' inventive attempt, the invention is not limited to thisapplication, but can as well be applied effectively to various otherelectric equipment having a liquid crystal panel including pocket bells,pagers and personal digital assistants PDA.

What follows is a brief summary of the advantages provided by typicalaspects of the present invention disclosed in this application. Thus,according to the invention, it is possible to realize a power supplycircuit susceptible to little current loss and capable of generating anaccurate boosted voltage. When applied to a power supply circuit forliquid crystal display driver using the circuit for generating a voltageto drive a liquid crystal panel, the liquid crystals will be lesssusceptible to deterioration and make possible picture displaying ofhigh quality. A liquid crystal display unit and mobile electricequipment consuming less power and therefore capable of running on abattery for many hours can be thereby provided.

1-14. (canceled)
 15. A display controller on a semiconductor substrateand for use with a display panel having first electrodes and secondelectrodes, the display controller comprising: a power supply circuitcoupled to receive an external source voltage, the power supply circuitgenerating a voltage to be applied to the first electrodes of thedisplay panel and generating a positive voltage higher than the externalsource voltage or a negative voltage lower than a ground potential, thepositive voltage and the negative voltage being to be applied to thesecond electrodes of the display panel; a first wiring feeding thenegative voltage as a bias voltage to the semiconductor substrate; asecond wiring supplying the ground potential; a switch element coupledbetween the first wiring and the second wiring; and a circuit whichgenerates a first control signal to make the switch element conducttemporarily in accordance with a second control signal for starting upthe power supply circuit.
 16. A display controller according to claim15, wherein the switch element is temporarily made to conduct at thetime of starting up the power supply circuit to set a potential of thesemiconductor substrate, to which the negative voltage is to be applied,temporarily to the ground potential.
 17. A display controller accordingto claims 15, wherein the switch element includes a high voltagewithstand MOSFET.
 18. A display controller according to claim 15,wherein the display controller includes: a first operating mode in whicha display operation is performed in a state of a source voltage beingsupplied from an outside of the liquid crystal display controller, and asecond operating mode in which a display operation is not performed in astate of a source voltage being supplied from the outside of the liquidcrystal display controller, wherein, when changing from the secondoperating mode to the first operating mode, the switch element istemporarily made to conduct to temporarily apply the ground potential tothe substrate, to which the negative voltage should be applied.
 19. Adisplay controller according to claim 15, further comprising: anoscillating circuit, wherein the liquid crystal display controller has:a first operating mode in which the oscillating circuit is operated toperform a displaying operation in a state of a source voltage beingsupplied from an outside of the liquid crystal display controller, and asecond operating mode in which the operation of the oscillating circuitis stopped not to perform the displaying operation in a state of asource voltage being supplied from the outside of the liquid crystaldisplay controller, wherein, when changing from the second operatingmode to the first operating mode, the switch element is temporarily madeconduct to set the potential of the semiconductor substrate, to whichthe negative voltage is to be applied, temporarily to the groundpotential.
 20. A display controller according to claim 15, furthercomprising: an external terminal to which a signal for an on/off controlof the switch element is inputted.
 21. A display controller on asemiconductor substrate and for use with a display panel having firstelectrodes and second electrodes, the display controller comprising: apower supply circuit coupled to receive an external source voltage, thepower supply circuit generating a voltage to be applied to the firstelectrodes of the display panel and generating a positive voltage higherthan the external source voltage or a negative voltage lower than aground potential, the positive voltage and the negative voltage being tobe applied to the second electrodes of the display panel; a first wiringfeeding the negative voltage as a bias voltage to the semiconductorsubstrate; a second wiring supplying the ground potential; a switchelement coupled between the first wiring and the second wiring; acircuit which generates a first control signal to make the switchelement conduct temporarily in accordance with a second control signalfor starting up the power supply circuit; a first drive circuit whichsupplies signals for driving the first electrodes of the display panelon the basis of a voltage generated by the power supply circuit; and asecond drive circuit which supplies signals for driving the secondelectrodes of the display panel on the basis of a voltage generated bythe power supply circuit.
 22. A display controller according to claim21, wherein the switch element is temporarily made to conduct at thetime of starting up the power supply circuit to set a potential of thesemiconductor substrate, to which the negative voltage is to be applied,temporarily to the ground potential.
 23. A display controller accordingto claims 21, wherein the switch element includes a high voltagewithstand MOSFET.
 24. A display controller according to claim 21,wherein elements constituting the second drive circuit are comprised ofMOSFETs higher in voltage withstand than the elements constituting thepower supply circuit for liquid crystal display driver, and wherein theswitch element is comprised of a voltage withstand MOSFET having thesame structure as the elements constituting the second drive circuit.25. A display controller according to claim 21, wherein the displaycontroller includes: a first operating mode in which a display operationis performed in a state of a source voltage being supplied from anoutside of the liquid crystal display controller, and a second operatingmode in which a display operation is not performed in a state of asource voltage being supplied from the outside of the liquid crystaldisplay controller, wherein, when changing from the second operatingmode to the first operating mode, the switch element is temporarily madeto conduct to temporarily apply the ground potential to the substrate,to which the negative voltage should be applied.
 26. A displaycontroller according to claim 21, further comprising: an oscillatingcircuit, wherein the liquid crystal display controller has: a firstoperating mode in which the oscillating circuit is operated to perform adisplaying operation in a state of a source voltage being supplied froman outside of the liquid crystal display controller, and a secondoperating mode in which the operation of the oscillating circuit isstopped not to perform the displaying operation in a state of a sourcevoltage being supplied from the outside of the liquid crystal displaycontroller, wherein, when changing from the second operating mode to thefirst operating mode, the switch element is temporarily made conduct toset the potential of the semiconductor substrate, to which the negativevoltage is to be applied, temporarily to the ground potential.
 27. Adisplay controller according to claim 21, further comprising: anexternal terminal to which a signal for an on/off control of the switchelement is inputted.